What got you into reading?

What got me into reading? Read inspiring stories about how the adults in our school got hooked onto books.

Contents Miss Calver .............................................................................................2 Miss Gleeson ..........................................................................................3 Miss Karim..............................................................................................4 Miss Oliver..............................................................................................5 Miss Renfree...........................................................................................6 Miss Whaley ...........................................................................................7 Mr Dunmall .............................................................................................8 Mrs Haines .............................................................................................9 Mrs Bumby ...........................................................................................10 Miss Mohammed ..................................................................................11 Mr Kausar .............................................................................................12 Miss Tsoukala.......................................................................................13 Mrs Tate ...............................................................................................14 1

What got me into reading? When I was a kid, I loved poetry. At school, we read Please Mrs Butler and Dr Seuss. They made me laugh so much and I was hooked! I also enjoyed reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. You had to decide the direction in which the story would take – choosing the pages to go to next and then going back and re- doing those decisions. I admire Shakespeare, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream is my favourite of his comedies. The Highwayman is my favourite poem. I love the language and comedy. Both authors write so beautifully. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Book Thief are amazing. I read these as an adult, I think everyone should read them. My grandfather was German, he told me about how hard it was to be a kid in Nazi Germany. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is another prize-winning book. The words make you think about the world around you as dive into history. They are informative, tinged with sadness but funny too. I think it’s important to read a range of authors and styles. Recommendations from friends is brilliant, sometimes reading something you’ve never heard of is good too. I get books from charity shops (the photo below was one in West Ealing). Often, I get them from the library. I’ve read my favourite books many times over, I will again. Occasionally it takes time to get into a book – persevere – it’s worth it. “You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax and all you need is a book!” Dr Seuss. Miss Calver 2

What got me into reading? When I was growing up, I adored reading. I’d lose myself in a world of imagination and spend hours sitting at my window seat in my old bedroom at home. I loved the smell of a new book and going to get one was always such a treat. I also went to Hanwell Library regularly and in my teenage years, received notes from the library to return books as they were overdue! Showing my age, you can extend online now! I read every Enid Blyton book available – my favourite being the Malory Towers series and The Magic Faraway Tree. Malory Towers was a girls’ boarding school near the sea and the girls always seemed to be getting into scrapes and having adventures and midnight feasts! There were lots of characters – a joker, a spoilt and spiteful girl and a girl who often lost her temper. I actually wanted to go to a boarding school after reading these, but my mum told me it was too expensive! Maybe partly inspiration for J K Rowling too. With The Magic Faraway Tree, I loved the usual characters and the enchanted forest reminded me of the forest near by Nan’s farm in Ireland. Spending all my summer holidays there when I was younger, I read lots of Irish myths and legends – the Children of Lir being one, where a jealous queen turned 3 children into swans and of course the tale of Grainne, the Pirate Queen. It was set in a time when girls from rich families where meant to sit at home and wait to be married, but she set off on adventures. I wanted to be like her too. My love of reading continues to this day and I still lose myself in a book now! I’m so proud of our Rocket Readers and trying to encourage a love of reading as I think it opens new doors to vocabulary, experiences and memories. Miss Gleeson 3

What got me into reading? So many books to choose from, I will share two of my favourites. ‘Just So Stories’ by Rudyard Kipling. Each story explains how something came about for example ‘How the camel got his hump’ or ‘How the first alphabet was made”. I always found the explanations of each story fascinating. Another favourite book was ‘Aesop’s Fables’. These are stories with a message or that teach a lesson. The characters are usually animals that talk and act like people. My mum would also read and tell me stories in Spanish. I remember being in bed, just about to fall asleep as I listened and imagined the pictures in my head. Miss Karim 4

What got me into reading? When I was younger, I lived in a small village in the Midlands and there was a mobile library that came to visit ever week. I loved going to visit it so I could borrow books. My family had lots of animals including dogs, a tortoise, a cat, fish, guinea pigs and a rabbits. Unsurprisingly, I loved reading books about animals. The mobile library had all of the Little Grey rabbit books by Alison Uttley, which I read again and again and again. I also loved ‘Peter Rabbit’ by Beatrix Potter. The first chapter book I ever read was ‘Peter Pan’ by JM Barrie. The book first belonged to my Aunty and I loved it so much that I still have that very copy. As I grew older, I loved ‘The Enchanted Wood’ and ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton. I loved being transported to magical places and I would have loved to taste a pop cake and toffee shock with Silky and Moonface! I also loved ‘Treasure Island’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s another book that takes you on a fabulous adventure! Miss Oliver 5

What got me into reading? Growing up in New Zealand right next to the East Coast, as well as near the wild countryside, I therefore adored marine life and animals of all kinds. ‘Classic New Zealand Animal Stories’ was one of the first books which was ever read to me. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about new and already known animals which is something I still enjoy doing now. Alongside books about animals, ‘Judy Moody Saves the World’ and many others in the series from Megan McDonald was a favourite of mine. I clearly remember sitting in my tiny primary school library reading as many of the Judy Moody books as I could, she was a such a strong female character that I loved from an early age. Of course, Roald Dahl was and still is one of the most brilliant authors of all time. ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ was my all- time favourite book Roald Dahl wrote and I enjoy reading as many as I can to my current Year 1 class. Reading is a wonderful thing everyone should do more often, keep reading and enjoy the never-ending supply we have! Miss Renfree 6

What got me into reading? I grew up on my dad’s dairy farm in Yorkshire. I adored animals so naturally enjoyed reading animal stories. Beatrix Potter’s ‘Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck’ was one of my favourites as we had a huge pond full of ducks on the farm. I also enjoyed Kenneth Graham’s, ‘Wind in the willows,’ and was fortunate enough to be chosen to play the lead part of, ‘Toad’ in ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ for my Year 6 performance. As my birthday is near Halloween, I also got really into books that were based on witches and all things scary. When I started school, my favourite books were, ‘Meg and Mog’ and ‘Haunted house’ by Jan Pienkowski. As I grew older, my preferred author was Roald Dahl and I kept re-reading, ‘The Witches.’ At primary school, we had to learn and recite a poem a week. My favourite was, ‘Macavity the mystery cat.’ It’s very long and took me a long time to learn! Miss Whaley 7

What got me into reading? “The Ant and The Elephant” read to me by my dad over and over and over again is one of my happiest childhood memories. The build-up, sense of anticipation and moral message of the tiny ant rescuing a giant elephant was so appealing to me as a little boy – even when I knew the outcome from reading the story so many times. I still hold strong visual images of the book in my head. Searching the web for a copy of the book results in many different versions of a similar story but never yet the version I remember so fondly! Competition with my cousin Hannah to be the first to read the series soon switched to captivation with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books. We would read, swap books and marvel in the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy, reliving the sense of fear and excitement in our own world when we holidayed in Cornwall together. “Stig of the Dump” further appealed to my sense of adventure as I ‘played-out’ with friends, roaming the countryside of mid-Kent on our bikes wondering who we would find and keep secret ourselves. “Danny Champion of the World” read to me as an upper junior pupil, by a teacher I had for 3 years in a small rural Primary school, led me to read Roald Dahl. Much later as a parent of two boys, this has been read and enjoyed again. Adventure and being taken through experiences far from my own reality continue to appeal as an adult reader today. I cherish the gift of a real book from a close friend suggesting a new author or genre. Mr Dunmall 8

What got me into reading? When I was growing up, I was an avid reader. I regularly visited my local library borrowing 10 books at a time. For me reading was an escape from the real world, each turn of a page taking me on a new adventure. My love of reading started when I was very small, my nan gave me two copies of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books that had belonged to my mum and her twin sister when they were little. I immediately became a fan working my way through the whole series eager to find out what adventures Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog got up to. I soon moved on to read my way through Enid Blyton’s series of the Five Find-Outers, these were based on another adventurous group of five who set out to solve mysteries, they always seemed to meet the most unusual people. I also loved her series based on The Far Away Tree, I couldn’t wait to find out what magical land and curious characters were visiting the top of the tree, my favourite was ‘the land of take-what-you-want’, where you really could have anything you wanted, just imagine that! When I wasn’t reading Enid Blyton books I was enjoying the Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy my favourite character was Mildred, I wished I could fly on a broomstick like her and really wanted to go to Miss Cackle’s academy - this was probably one of the reasons why I love the Harry Potter books by J. K Rowling so much as an adult! Mrs Haines 9

What got me into reading? I’ll let you into a secret… when I was little, I didn’t really enjoy reading. But, I did love to snuggle up next to my Grandma & listen to her read, using such exciting expression for each character that I was soon carried away in the imaginary world of the book. However, my disinterest in reading myself all changed when my sister was old enough to understand stories. She would snuggle up with me and I’d read to her, changing my voice and using gestures to act out all of the characters. The book I remember that we liked best was ‘Pusscat Wizzy Willums’ and it was all about some crazy cats who got up to mischief! I loved reading it and hearing her giggle at all the funny parts and lifting the flaps to reveal different things. My advice to anyone who doesn’t enjoy reading (yet!), is to imagine you are one of the characters and act out their role in the story (or even make up your own adventures for them!) I guarantee that this will soon have you wanting to read loads more books - it worked for me! Mrs Bumby 10

What got me into reading? One of my earliest memories of reading was ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle. The pictures and illustrations really captured my attention as a child and this spurred my love of reading picture books. Another book I enjoyed growing up was ‘Oh, the places you’ll go!’ By Dr Seuss. The vivid colours and detailed drawing really drew me into the story and allowed me to picture myself there. The messages in the story are also really meaningful and taught me many important lessons growing up. Even as an adult I still read the story to remind me to think positively and persevere. As I got older I began to enjoy reading longer and more complex books like ‘The BFG’ and ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl both of which I still love and read to this day. From there I went on to read books like ‘Charlotte’s web’ by E.B. White and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. The books allowed my imagination to run free and allowed me to immerse myself in the make-believe worlds. Miss Mohammed 11

What got me into reading? I loved to read when I was growing up. One of my earliest memories was being bought ‘The BFG’ by Roald Dahl for my birthday, which instantly captured my attention and made me a lifelong fan of Roald Dahl books, such as ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and ‘The Witches’. When I was a child, I loved nothing more than to feel spooked by a scary read and I became fond of R.L Stine’s ‘Goosebumps’ collection, including ‘The Barking Ghost’ and ‘Night of the Living Dummy’. I also relished reading the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ collection of books as you were able to construct your own narrative path and this inspired me to create my own stories. I also enjoyed reading ‘Harriet The Spy’ as the main character would embark on thrilling adventures, trying to investigate and solve mysteries. As I enjoyed reading about life in other cultures, I also enjoyed the book ‘Amazing Grace’ which explored the story of a young girl from an exotic and unfamiliar part of the world. Mr Kausar 12

What got me into reading? Growing up in Corfu, a sunny island in Greece, one of my special memories was when my grandma used to visit from England. She opened her enormous faded green suitcase - I’m not sure if it was actually as huge as I remember or if I was just very small- and a plethora of bright colourful books would fall out waiting for me to open them. My favourite of all was ‘Winnie the Pooh’. How exciting it was for me to creep into my bedroom and hope that my teddies were talking to each other like Christopher Robin’s! A lot of my first books were read to me on the beach, near the sea or before bedtime. I particularly enjoyed ‘The Jungle Book’ which had enormous pages and ‘The Wind in the Willows’. After a few years, I couldn’t wait to read my first chapter book on my own ‘like a big girl’. It was ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain which I had chosen from a bookshop with my dad. I remember switching on my torch quietly and reading under the sheets when my parents were asleep because I had to find out what would happen to his cat! This habit continued through high school with my favourite book being ‘Harry Potter’. Miss Tsoukala 13

What got me into reading? My mum and dad used to despair with me because I wouldn’t sit still long enough to read a whole book! For me, reading was something magical that happened at bedtime. Either my mum or dad would read to me and I would get lost in my imagination and continue the story while I dreamt. ‘The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark’ by Jill Tomlinson was a favourite of mine. Each chapter helps Plop, the main character, discover more about the dark in order to overcome his fear of being nocturnal. As I got older, I discovered that reading was more than just sitting with a book. My primary school used to enter The Cheltenham Speech and Drama Festival every year and I loved being chosen to represent the school. This involved reading and memorising scripts and poems to perform with others or on my own. Reciting ‘I Saw Three Witches’ by Walter De La Mare and ‘What Was It?’ by Kit Wright on a stage in front of lots of people and judges showed me how exciting reading could be and that it didn’t have to be a quiet pastime! My love of discovering different genres continued when my older sister bought be a joke book for my 9th birthday. This sparked creativity in my mind and encouraged me to write my own jokes, poems and stories, which I was convinced were better than the published ones! Mrs Tate 14